Intelligence Quotients
by cr8vgrl
Summary: Rossi brings in a new agent that is mysteriously young, and Reid is instantly captured by her, but what will happen when she becomes the next target for their serial killer? And what is in her tiny employment file that she refuses to make known?
1. Mystery Girl

**A/N: Alright guys, for those of you that know me, I finally recovered my flash drive only to have it stolen. :'( Anyways, I need to try and organize the stories lost, so for right now, I'm trying something a little new. Forgive me, I promise to get to the other ones. Until I do, though, check this one out. **

**I own nothing, as usual, and since Criminal Minds is a rather new love of mine, I don't know everything about the show. Enjoy!**

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Hotch couldn't stop staring at the young slip of a girl sitting nervously in the chair in front of him. Her long legs barely fit under the edge of the table, but she appeared too nervous to even dare to move back. He glanced down again at her tiny little file and read the numbers over again. _"No way,"_ he thought. Special permission indeed.

His eyes met Rossi's over the edge of he file. One raised eyebrow was all it took to ask if Rossi was joking or not. Rossi, in turn, shook his head ever so slightly. Hotch turned his attention once more to the girl in front of him, her eyes wide as she watched their interaction. "You're communicating about me," she said softly, almost too softly, as though she was already resigned to the fact that they would never take her seriously.

Hotch cleared his throat and nodded, fixing his gaze firmly on hers. "Yes, yes we are."

The girl gazed back steadily. "And what have you decided, Agent Hotchner?"

Hotch drew in a deep breath and leaned forward slightly, only one question forming on his lips. "Do you really think that you can do this job as well as any other agent?"

The girl nodded. "I think I might even be able to do it better," she said candidly, a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth as she tried to remain serious. "My records should assure you of my problem solving."

Hotch nodded. That they did-most certainly.

"Very well," he agreed. He reached his right hand across the desk and shook her hand. "Welcome to the team, Miss Trujillo."

* * *

Morgan snapped his fingers in front of Spencer Reid's face, causing his friend's neck to jerk back. "What?" Reid asked, irritated.

"I'm trying to tell you about my weekend, which I will remind you that _you_ asked about, and you're not even looking at me!" Morgan complained. "What _are_ you looking at anyway?"

Reid's face turned slightly red and he ducked his head, shaking it simultaneously. "Nothing," he said unconvincingly.

Morgan turned around, scanning the area that Reid had previously been watching with such avid attention, and his face lit up when he saw the girl, well, she was more like a young woman, who was coming out of Hotch's office with Rossi leading her. He turned around to find Reid studiously going over a file, and then reached forward, snatching it out from under his friend's nose. When Reid lifted his head to protest, Morgan simply turned the file around and handed it back. "Genius though you may be," he said, trying vainly to keep from laughing, "I think it's easier to read when the file's not upside down."

Reid glared and lifted his chin in rare defiance over his friend's joking. "Actually-"

Morgan raised his hands in surrender before Reid could start spouting off statistics or start detailing his many closet talents. "Hey man, it's cool." That smirk was back on his face. That horrid, all-knowing smirk. "She's good looking. You gonna talk to her?"

Reid pulled the file towards him, feeling more flustered than he had in a long time. "No, of course not," he said irritably. "There's at least an eighty percent chance that she's either a witness or a suspect. Don't be stupid, Morgan. The rest of us aren't always as flamboyant with our conquests as you are."

Instead of taking offense, Morgan just laughed and gave Reid's shoulder a friendly push as he made his way back to his own desk. So this little cutie was making the great Doctor Reid sweat, eh? Well now, Morgan hoped that he would have the honor of making her most _excellent _acquaintance.

"This way." Morgan looked up and found Rossi ushering the girl towards their end of the bullpen. No…this was too good to be true! He glanced over at Reid and found him watching the girl intently again.

"Hey, Rossi," Morgan called out, watching with delight as Reid cringed at the tone of his voice. "Who's your friend?"

"You'll find out later," Rossi said with a small smile. To the girl, he said, "We'll have you sit by Dr. Reid for now."

The day was just getting better and better!

Reid looked as though he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He face turned bright red and he began twitching, his tongue flicking out to wet his lips as his fingers traced his cheekbone, a habit from his addiction days. He could barely look up, much less make eye contact, and Morgan actually felt bad for the girl as she stiffly seated herself in the chair Rossi indicated and tried to smile at the young doctor.

Reid never looked up again.

Derek decided that the old adage was true, with a tweak or two. Youth was wasted on the nerdy.

Feeling bad for the girl, he stood from his desk and crossed over, noticing that this young lady's eyes followed him during the entire journey. "Well hi there, mystery girl," he said, grinning down at her. "I'm Derek Morgan, but you can just call me Derek."

He could practically hear Reid mentally retching.

Oddly enough, a smile tugged at the girl's lips and she smiled up at him. "L-lovely to meet you, _Agent_ Morgan." Her nervous, teasing tone eased the sting of the slight, and the wink she added at the end was the balm to her clipped tone.

So she liked to tease, did she? Well, that was fine with him.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but Hotch chose that moment to call everyone into the briefing room. Reid catapulted from his chair, his long legs easily carrying him into the safety of the room in less than ten strides. For a moment, Morgan almost imagined that the girl's downcast eyes had a glimmer of disappointment in them. "It was nice meeting you, mystery girl," he said. "Very nice indeed."

Once again, she smiled, this time, her whole mouth turning into a grin. "It was…tolerable to meet you, Agent Morgan," she teased.

Morgan shook his head and smiled. "Too much," he laughed, not specifying what exactly was too much, but she guessed that he was talking about her. Her satisfactory grin was proof enough of that.

Morgan had just reached the door to the briefing room when Hotch motioned with his hand to someone behind him. "You too, Kelsi."

Morgan paused for a moment, surprised, and turned to watch the girl rise from her chair and smirk conspiratorially as she glided past him. He gave her a mock salute and followed both her and Hotch into the briefing room. "You're just full of surprises," he whispered in her ear as he moved past her to sit in his usual seat.

"I like to keep people on their toes," she whispered back.

Rossi and Hotch stood to start the presentation when Rossi noticed that his new charge was standing awkwardly in the back of the room, unsure where she should sit. "Kelsi, why don't you have a seat over by JJ. JJ, raise your hand and wave it around."

A pretty blonde grinned and raised her hand, waving it wildly for effect. A couple of laughs and snorts came from the others in the room as the blonde-JJ patted the chair next to her and smiled warmly. Kelsi gratefully moved towards the chair provided, but Rossi's next words stopped her in her tracks.

"Kelsi is a part of our team now," he announced to the room, and more than one pair of eyes widened at his statement. "I expect all of you to help her as much as you can with her transition." He looked pointedly at Reid, who swallowed and wetted his lips again.

Everyone else was looking at Kelsi with something akin to confusion and déjà vu. Though Dr. Reid had yet to say a word to her, the agents were looking back and forth between them as though they were watching a tennis match. She gulped and felt compelled to say something, anything. "Uh, hello." She could have smacked herself for her own lameness.

Morgan grinned. She and Reid even had the same social strengths. Or lack there of.

Reid, however, looked up and focused on her for the first time since she had come over, taking in her curly auburn hair, pulled back in a ponytail with a ribbon tied around it, her pale, soft-featured face with those deep, almond-shaped eyes and the scattered freckles. She looked too young, too innocent, and far too nervous. But then again, he knew exactly how that felt. He'd experienced it almost every day of his life.

But why did _she_ look like that?

"You're just full of surprises, mystery girl," Morgan teased, the first one to find something to say that wasn't a question of "Who, what, when, where, or why."

Kelsi visibly relaxed as she focused her gaze on Morgan. "I told you, I keep people on their toes."

Hotch nodded. "So you do. Now, everyone tell Kelsi your name before we get started."

"Agent Jareau," JJ said, and then added, "JJ."

Reid gulped. "Dr. Reid. Spencer," he choked out.

"Agent Hotchner," Hotch said. "Aaron."

"David Rossi," Rossi told her with a smile.

"No kidding?" Kelsi muttered under her breath.

"Agent Prentiss," said a dark-haired woman sitting across the table. "Emily."

Morgan grinned at Kelsi over the desk. "You can just call me Derek," he teased.

That smile was back on her face. "Sure thing, Agent Morgan."

Hotch actually grinned as Morgan sat back, wagging his finger at Kelsi. "You'll meet Garcia later, but for right now, we have a case to solve." He looked down and consulted his notes. "There have been twelve murders in the last year, according to Jersey police, all around the same area. Victims have been kidnapped and held for a week before our unsub kills them."

"What's his MO?" Emily Prentiss asked.

"He drugs the victims as well as forces their gag reflexes until they can only dry heave," he informed her.

"That's a sign of inferiority," Reid spoke up, his voice sounding strangely emotional. "He's keeping his victims drugged and sedated, possibly because he isn't strong enough to detain them any other way. He forces them to vomit because he likes to see their panic and misery." He licked his lips and unconsciously rubbed his arm.

Kelsi wondered what that was about.

Rossi nodded. "We need to start a profile as soon as we get to Jersey."

Hotch nodded towards Kelsi. "What about her?"

"She'll be with me," Rossi assured him. "She needs to get an idea of what we do if she's going to be working with us."

Hotch nodded. "Alright. Let's get started."

As everyone pushed back their chairs to go and get ready for the trip, Kelsi's eyes met Dr. Reid's and she nearly took a step back from the intensity of his gaze. It wasn't exactly hostile, but neither was it welcoming. He seemed uneasy around her, and she didn't understand it. He stood abruptly, nearly stumbling as he tried to squeeze around the other chairs and leave.

Kelsi sighed as she watched him leave. This was going to be harder than she had anticipated.

She was going to kill Rossi for suggesting it.

**

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**A/N: Alright guys, I really hope that you liked this one. Should I continue? Please let me know, and if anything is wrong, just PM me. If it's major, I'll fix it. The review button needs you! ;) Thanks! :D**


	2. Back to School

**A/N: Thank you guys for those couple of reviews! Hope you like this next chapter too!**

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Kelsi lunged for the top that Rossi was currently pulling out of her closet and trying to stuff into her duffle bag. "Absolutely not!" she cried.

Rossi grinned and tried to look innocent. "Why not? Morgan will love it."

Kelsi blushed to the roots of her hair. "I honestly can't believe that I spoke to him like that. I-I just, well, I forgot that I wasn't speaking to _you_."

Rossi grinned. "Don't worry. You should hear Morgan and Garcia, our tech girl, go at it. They're even worse."

Kelsi looked hopeful. "Really?"

Rossi nodded. "One of Garcia's favorite lines is, 'Talk dirty to me.'" He winked. "I think you're safe."

Kelsi pushed away the hand that was still trying to slip the unprofessional top into her first-what did they call it?-go-bag and glared momentarily. "Stop that," she chided. She reached for another pair of socks and added, "Why don't you do something useful and tell me about the team? Tell me what they're like."

Rossi tossed her a pair of pants and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hotch is too serious for his own good, but he's a great guy. You'll learn a lot from him if you can stick around long enough." He reached for another top and folded it before handing it over. "JJ's our liaison. She's a sweet girl with a husband and a little boy. She likes you already. Emily Prentiss was a late addition to our team, and she worked for a couple of years to assure herself that she was really a part of our team. She'll probably be the one most forthcoming to try and make you welcome. She knows what it feels like."

Kelsi nodded. "And what about Dr. Reid?"

Rossi didn't miss the slightly eager, inquisitive tone in the inquiry, but he chose to ignore it. He didn't need to scare her out of this job after he had taken so long to talk her into it in the first place. Therefore, all he allowed himself to say was, "You and Spencer Reid have more in common than you would think, Kels."

"But what is he like?" she pressed, trying to sound only mildly interested. "What are his interests? What part does he play on the team?"

"He's quite the genius," Rossi said, trying to catch her eye, but she kept her head down and continued her furious packing. "He reads faster than anyone you've ever seen, he's quite the artist and magician, as well as a very useful profiler."

"Got it," Kelsi mumbled, but since her attention was still focused on her go-bag, Rossi couldn't be sure whether she was talking about the information or the completion of her packing. She slung the bag over her shoulder and turned around to raise her eyebrows. "Ready?"

Normally, Rossi wasn't one to push the subject, but this time, he decided to. "Did you hear me?"

Kelsi headed for the door and turned around, smiling at the man in her room. "I heard you," she said sweetly. "Ready?"

Well, if she wanted to play that way, then fine. He knew how to wait.

"_Been_ ready," he said just as sweetly, and ushered her out the door. "I should have warned you to have the bag already packed, but I didn't realize that we were going on assignment so soon."

"You know," she mentioned as she locked the door to her new apartment, "I haven't even slept in the bed yet."

"And whose fault is that?" Rossi asked her, knowing that she had hurried up to Virginia from her hometown in Florida as soon as he had contacted her yesterday.

She grinned up at him, looking every bit the young child that he remembered her to be. "Yours. Yours entirely."

* * *

The plane ride was rather short, and Kelsi enjoyed the spacious cabin immensely, Spencer Reid dampened her spirits slightly. Whenever he wasn't talking to one of the other members of the team, he was reading, or beating JJ at chess, but he never once spoke to her, or even glanced her direction.

Which would have been fine if she hadn't been sitting right next to him.

The one time that she shifted in her seat and accidentally knocked her elbow against his side, he jumped and recoiled away from her before she could even open her mouth. "Sorry!" she gasped out, worried that she might have hurt him.

He turned his head at the same moment that she looked up, and their gazes locked for several moments, hers worried, his…unreadable. Finally, he jerked back and pointedly turned away from her, mumbling under his breath, "It's fine. Don't worry about it." He opened his mouth to say something else, but obviously thought better at the last moment and stopped.

But she _did_ worry about it. For the rest of the flight.

It was only when Rossi gave her a small shake that she realized she had actually fallen asleep. Immediately, she jolted awake, nearly knocking her water bottle over, and blinked owlishly for a moment before the memories flooded back to her and she remembered why she was on a private jet in the first place. "Oh!" she exclaimed, automatically feeling embarrassed as she noticed the others gathering up their bags. "Sorry."

Rossi shook his head. "Don't apologize. Grab your stuff."

Kelsi moved to stand up and immediately sat down hard in her seat. Her whole head swam and her vision erupted with small black dots for a moment, and she shook her head wildly to try and clear it. A hand appeared in front of her face, and Kelsi looked up to find Emily Prentiss at the end of said hand. "It's difficult to regain your 'land legs' after these flights," was all she said.

Kelsi gazed up at her for a moment, and then took the proffered hand with a shy smile. "Thanks."

Emily shrugged, seeming suddenly shy herself. "No problem. I'm not really sure what's up with Reid today; he's not usually this rude, but let's get going." Suddenly, she was all business and was handing Kelsi her overhead luggage. "We need to hurry and get to the station."

Kelsi only nodded and allowed herself to follow Emily off the plane and into the car. Once in the car, she found herself seated-no, scrunched, next to Spencer Reid of all people, who looked as though he wanted to die. His face turned red as soon as she slid into the seat next to him and he turned away from her, running his fingers through his hair repeatedly. She had to consciously order herself not to squirm around once seated, or even to look at him. What was his problem with her? She jumped almost as high as he did when his knee brushed against hers.

"Sorry," he mumbled, shifting as far away from her as he could, which only made his shoulder brush against hers.

"Sorry," she echoed, moving the opposite way, succeeding only in brushing her upper thigh against his in an effort to get away.

"Sorry," they said simultaneously.

"Would you two stop it and sit still?" Morgan requested as he turned around from the passenger's seat. The grin on his face did nothing to ease Kelsi's taut nerves, in fact, it only made it worse, and as she shifted to rearrange the book she had brought with her, her hand brushed across his thigh again. She didn't even have the nerve to apologize. She simply turned red and scooted as far into Emily's shoulder as was comfortable for both of them, missing the inquiring, disapproving glance that Emily sent Dr. Reid's way.

She couldn't wait until they reached the station.

* * *

But when they finally did, Kelsi regretted her eagerness. Posted up on the boards in the briefing room were hideous photos of the victims, beaten and bruised, bleeding out in piles of their own vomit. While the others calmly filed into the room, Kelsi swayed on her feet, her eyes riveted on the ghastly views before her. Blood seemed to be the main focus point in each of these pictures. The red fluid was so carelessly spilt as though the painter of the scene had painted with his eyes closed.

"Kelsi?"

The voice in her ear jolted Kelsi back into the present, bringing with it the startling realization that every single pair of eyes in the room was focused on her. For the countless time that day, Kelsi's face flushed with embarrassment and she ducked her head. "Sorry," she mumbled.

She seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

Hotch shook his head. "We were all like that at one time. Unfortunately, you'll get used to it." He nodded to the seat next to Emily. "Have a seat."

She obeyed mechanically, seating herself on the very edge of the chair and gripping the table so hard that her knuckles turned white and then red. She would _not_ cry! She would not cry!

Hotch began to speak with the sheriff of the station, and many of the team members joined in with questions and speculations, but Kelsi couldn't make herself ask anything. This disgusting killer was going after college students and other young people her age in the surrounding area, and was brutally murdering them just to suit his own fantasies. How sick could you get?

But she knew in her heart that it could get much, much worse.

She had been prepared for this situation, had studied for five years for this, but studying could not prepare her for the sight of actual human beings, people with families and loved ones, being slaughtered mercilessly just because they became an interesting target. She closed her eyes and took in a shuddering breath, reminding herself that she needed to be strong. She needed to live up to Rossi's expectation of her abilities.

She couldn't let him down.

"We need to catch this man as quickly as possible, of course," Hotch was saying, bringing Kelsi back from her musings. "These students are being targeted too frequently, so we need to change our tactics a little. We need to surprise him." He turned and focused on Kelsi. "That's where you come in."

All eyes once again to her.

"Me?" she asked, or rather, squeaked.

Hotch nodded and then explained to the room, "Kelsi is about the right age to mingle among the college students and see if they know anything."

"They'll talk to her more than they will with agents," Emily agreed with a nod.

"Tell anyone that you come in contact with that you're a transfer student," Hotch informed her. "We want you to be curious about the campus and the goings on. See if anyone has noticed anything strange or out of the ordinary. We need you to report anything you find out about, absolutely anything."

"Alright," Kelsi agreed, already mapping out how she would approach the campus and the students on it. How many times had she done similar exercises in school?

Then Hotch said the words that made everything come crashing down.

"Reid will be the only one that will keep in touch with you for a while. He'll have to play the visiting boyfriend, since we don't want our unsub to notice anything amiss. We'll be around, watching if you need help, but we cannot communicate with you. This unsub is too smart, and will no doubt catch on quickly if we aren't careful. Be cautious in what you do and say, since he'll be wary of a new student anyway."

"We've started a profile," Spencer choked out, pointedly ignoring Hotch's decision, "but it's rather incomplete so far. We know that the unsub is a rather weak man in his late twenties to early thirties. He probably has some sort of deficiency, perhaps a limp or a short leg, or something to that effect that makes it impossible for him to detain his victims without the use of drugs and extensive beatings. He must frequent the campus enough that the students trust him and will leave with him. He may be a teacher, or a club organizer."

Many of the police nodded and scribbled notes on their notepads. "We'll get this profile out as soon as we can," one officer promised.

"The sooner the better," Hotch said with a nod. He turned back to Kelsi and asked, "Ready to go back to school?"

Kelsi looked around the room for a moment, focusing on the solemn gazes of each and every person there. She hadn't expected to be needed so soon, but when her gaze rested once again on the pictures, she knew that this was exactly why Rossi had asked her to apply for the job. She was meant to be here, meant to help save lives, whether Spencer Reid liked her or not.

"Absolutely," she affirmed.

It was JJ who broke in this time as she ran into the room, looking rather grave. "I've just had a call from the campus police. Another girl's gone missing."

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and let me know! :D**


	3. Genius, or not?

**A/N: Thanks for waiting patiently! I have some projects that I've had to work on, so typing time has decreased, but here you go, and enjoy!**

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"Name?"

The woman behind the desk looked absolutely bored out of her mind as she stared-or more like glared-up at Kelsi from behind her counter in the Admissions department of the college where the attacks had occurred. Kelsi adjusted her fake pair of glasses and cleared her throat. "Jessica Turner," she replied as loudly as she could manage around the lump in her throat.

The secretary typed the name out with annoyed little strokes on her keys. "Not in the system."

Well, wasn't she a ray of sunshine and helpfulness?

Kelsi paused for a moment, not quite sure what to say. Hotch had assured her that the dean of the school would have a fake transcript written up and ready to go when she arrived. "Uh…"

And that was when she saw it.

Sitting on the edge of the secretary's desk was a large stack of files, and three files from the bottom was one with her name, Jessica Turner, written in scrawling red ink. "I believe it's that one," she supplied helpfully. "I transferred in a bit of a hurry, so I might not be in the system yet." She tried to smile pleasantly, but it was becoming more and more difficult as the woman turned around and fished out the file.

"Wh-what?" the secretary stuttered, her annoyance wavering for the first time as it gave away to surprise.

When she turned her questioning gaze back to Kelsi, the latter could only shrug and attempt a half smile. "Good eyesight," was all she said.

The woman in front of her snapped open the file, her confusion long forgotten, and consulted the file. "Mm," she hummed. "I see." She twisted back around to the computer and slammed some more keys, adding a few clicks for good measure, and then handed Kelsi a couple of printed sheets of paper. "Here's your schedule," she said gruffly. "Dorm number's in there as well. I see you have your books, so that should be all. Next!"

Kelsi barely had time to move out of the way before the next young man was stepping up to the counter. As she turned to go, juggling the very books that would be needed for her studies, the door opened right into her shoulder. "Oh!" she gasped, dropping her books to the ground in her surprise.

"I'm sorry!" The man who had opened the door was currently trying to bend around his large belly to pick up her scattered books and notebook paper. "I had _no_ idea!"

"No, it's fine," Kelsi tried to assure him. "It's fine, really." She took the books that he had gathered and smiled at him. "There's no harm done." Her mouth quirked into a smile and she spoke before her introverted shyness could take her emotions over once more. "I'll just pop on over to the cafeteria to get some ice before I head over to my dorm."

The man studied her for a moment before smiling wryly and opening the door for her. "I hope you don't need too much," he attempted to tease back.

Kelsi shook her head and slid out the door. "No, probably not."

* * *

Neil Patterson gazed after the young girl and brushed his hands over his large stomach as he turned and asked, "I haven't seen her around before. Transfer student?"

"Yeah. Some high achieving loser," the secretary scoffed irritably as she clicked out of "Jessica Turner's" rudimentary file and began half-listening to the boy in front of her who was complaining about his mail not being delivered properly. She fixed the problem and then sent him on his way before she spoke again. "She even got the okay from our dean."

Neil cocked his head to the side, surprised. The dean wasn't a very personable man, and he had never personally approved a transfer of a smart student. Only Admissions ever did that. "Really?" he asked, feeling more curious by the moment about the new girl.

The secretary nodded. "She's even in your class."

The teacher leaned against the counter. "How interesting…"

* * *

Kelsi made her way quickly across the large campus, coaching herself not to pay the slightest bit of attention to the two FBI agents who were currently asking questions of the students sitting on the benches on campus. _"Don't look. Don't look. Keep walking. Don't look,"_ she chanted in her head.

Her first task was to find the last victim's dorm, which the dean, having helped the FBI immensely, though rather reluctantly, had arranged for her to have. Hotch and Rossi had both prepped her, and she knew that she needed to give absolutely no indication to the victim's roommate that she knew what was going on. She needed to press for information for as long as she could without arousing suspicion, though.

And most of all, she needed to not mess up. They needed to find the latest missing girl alive.

It took every ounce of out-of-body courage Kelsi could muster to knock on the dorm door and chirp a happy, "Hi! I'm Jessica!" when the door opened.

The girl on the other side of the door looked haggard, worn, and grief-stricken. Her hair was a mess, something that Kelsi knew in an instant was not normal, her face was pale, void of any makeup, and her eyes had dark circles under them. "Hi," she mumbled.

Kelsi shifted from foot to foot awkwardly as she asked, "Is…is this a bad time?"

The girl gazed at her for a moment before wearily stepping away from the door. "Yes, but it's not going to get any better, so come on in."

* * *

"She's distraught, angry, and probably taking some kind of narcotics to try and dull the mental pain she's in, but she's not our unsub," Kelsi murmured as soon as Reid had joined her on the bench she had chosen. She'd chosen this particular bench because it sat almost right in the middle of the campus, and thus gained the most amount of foot traffic. Perhaps the unsub would see her talking to her "boyfriend."

The one that was currently digging himself into a hole by looking at her as though she was a five-year-old.

"We _know_ that," he muttered, uncomfortable with having to sit so close to her, yet knowing that he could not pull away.

"I'm just ruling out any and all possibilities," Kelsi snapped defensively. "It could have been a strong girl instead of a weak male. Profiles can be wrong."

"Not _that_ wrong." The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about what he was saying.

Forget the hole; he was digging himself a grave, and so help her if she didn't put him in there herself!

Kelsi was on her feet after only a moment, staring down at the young doctor with barely veiled disgust. "What is it about me that you hate so much, Dr. Reid? Why is it that you can't just listen to what I have to say and actually take into consideration that I am doing my absolute best to make sure that another student doesn't get taken? I may be young, but I'm not out of my league. I would think that you of all people would know how that feels."

Spencer gazed up at her for a moment and pushed his hair behind his ears, mightily resisting the urge to tell her _exactly_ why he kept pushing her away. Instead, he said the words that he knew would wound her the most, that would keep her away until she absolutely needed to contact him again.

"You're not a genius, though. I am."

He wasn't prepared for the smile that crossed her face, a smile that quirked only one corner of her mouth and never reached her eyes. He wasn't prepared for her to gaze at him so challengingly and ask, "Aren't I?"

He wasn't prepared for her to be the one to walk away, to leave him sitting there on a bench, gazing after her, to any untrained eye looking like a distraught boyfriend after a lovers quarrel.

His cell was out without another thought and he quickly dialed the first number that came to mind. When the Oracle of Supreme Genius answered, he asked, "Garcia, I need you to look up a personnel file on someone."

"Hit me, Gorgeous," she replied eagerly.

"Kelsi Trujillo."

"The new girl?"

Reid nodded, even though Garcia couldn't see him. "Yeah. Tell me what you've got."

He could hear the keys of her keyboard clicking, so he knew that it would only take a few seconds to-

"Nothing."

Redi blinked. "Nothing? Garcia, she must have a file."

"No, she does, but I can't get into it. It's sealed."

"By whom?"

More keystrokes. "Uh, well, Hotch."

It was going against protocol. It might cost him his job. It was one of the stupidest things he'd done in while, but Reid couldn't help himself, or curb the desire to know more about this girl who seemed to think that she was a genius as well.

"Unseal it."

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this! Please review and let me know, and thanks so much for reading, you guys!**


	4. Understanding Her

_**Last Time On Criminal Minds:**_

His cell was out without another thought and he quickly dialed the first number that came to mind. When the Oracle of Supreme Genius answered, he asked, "Garcia, I need you to look up a personnel file on someone."

"Hit me, Gorgeous," she replied eagerly.

"Kelsi Trujillo."

"The new girl?"

Reid nodded, even though Garcia couldn't see him. "Yeah. Tell me what you've got."

He could hear the keys of her keyboard clicking, so he knew that it would only take a few seconds to-

"Nothing."

Reid blinked. "Nothing? Garcia, she must have a file."

"No, she does, but I can't get into it. It's sealed."

"By whom?"

More keystrokes. "Uh, well, Hotch."

It was going against protocol. It might cost him his job. It was one of the stupidest things he'd done in while, but Reid couldn't help himself, or curb the desire to know more about this girl who seemed to think that she was a genius as well.

"Unseal it."

* * *

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and Spencer hesitated. "Garcia?"

There was a rustle on the line, and then Garcia cleared her throat and said the words that Spencer Reid had never thought he would hear from her. "I can't."

He stopped in mid-stride along the campus walkway. "You _what_?" he asked, disbelievingly.

"I can't," she repeated. "Remember how I encrypted that file a while ago, back when I got shot?"

Reid frowned, not liking where this was going. "Yeah…" he said slowly.

"Well, this file's the same thing. Only, I wasn't the one to encrypt it, so I can't get in right away. It might take hours."

He didn't have that kind of time. If he was going to work with this girl, he needed to know absolutely everything about her. "Who encrypted it? You normally handle all the team files."

"I know!" she groaned, obviously upset that she was momentarily failing to provide the right answer for her Gorgeous Gray Matter. "I think Hotch ordered it this morning from one of the other techs." She began typing, and Reid heard a groan at the other end after a few moments.

"Okay, what about the hard copy?" he asked, trying to still sound positive as well as steer Garcia away from her failure. "She has to have one of those."

Garcia almost whimpered, actually whimpered. "I think Hotch took it with him."

It was Reid's turn to groan. Great. Just _brilliant_. Hotch would never give it up. Reid was silent for a moment, trying to get a hold of what he wanted to say. "Alright. Thanks, Garcia."

"I'm really sorry, darling," Garcia apologized, knowing by his short tone that he was upset and disappointed.

"Don't worry about it," Reid commanded, then paused. "Actually, Garcia, can you try a more extensive hack?"

There was another pause, and then her voice was back in his ear, more hesitant than before. "Sure, but Reid…this isn't a bad guy that has no right to private files, this is a member of our team. You know that, right?"

"Of course," he said, frowning. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, and even if it did, well…duh. "Garcia, you're right. She's part of the team. And if she's going to be responsible for our lives, and vice versa, wouldn't you like to know more about her?"

Silence.

Then, "Stay on the line."

Reid actually smiled for the first time that day. "You're the best, Garcia."

"Don't you know it," she replied vacantly, and he had to smile once more as he could imagine her sitting there at her computers, typing almost faster than he could read…almost. "Yahtzee," she crowed a moment later. "I'm in."

Reid's hand tightened on his cell phone. "Good. What's in there?"

Garcia sounded stunned as she responded, "Rossi's signature on the adoption papers for Kelsi."

"What?"

"Yeah, it says here that he adopted her ten years ago and sent her through college after her first pair of adoptive 'rents gave her up." There were more clicking sounds. "She graduated from Oxford six years ago and has been living in Florida ever since, working as a technical assistant. Rossi got her the interview, but Hotch was the one that actually took her on as one of the team."

"Does it give any stats?" Reid asked. "Anything that could tell us more about her?"

"Nothing more than the basics," Garcia replied. "I have credit card statements, two street sweeping tickets, which she paid in full, and Rossi's letter of recommendation for her. She's twenty-five, born August 16, yada yada…oh my word."

"What? What?" Reid asked.

No answer.

"Garcia!"

It took a moment, but his tech friend found her voice again. "There was a subfile that I hacked into as well. This one shows tons of medical records, hospital and lab center tests, and it says here that Kelsi Mae Trujillo has an IQ of 198."

Reid nearly dropped the phone. It was bad enough that he stopped so suddenly that a student ran into him from behind, but he couldn't wipe the astonished look off his face. He knew that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't seem to get his neurons into the proper sequence to snap his lips closed. "_What_?" he croaked out.

"An IQ of 198," Garcia repeated, sounding just as stunned as he was. "Looks like her parents took her to have a lot of tests done before they gave her up. Even says here that they put her temporarily in a mental institution until the doctors released her due to insufficient reasons to keep her there." Garcia paused, and then said, "Ew. That's awful."

Reid quickened his steps. If he was going to work with her, Reid needed to know every little minuscule detain that Miss Kelsi Trujillo had been hiding from him. "Thanks Garcia. I owe you one."

"Reid-" she began, but he had already hung up on her.

He needed to talk to Rossi. Now.

* * *

Rossi knew exactly what Reid was there to talk about when the younger man walked into the police station where they had set up temporary headquarters. His eyes and facial features showed both disappointment and resignation when Reid sat down across the desk from him. "You broke protocol," was the first thing he said.

Reid gazed squarely at him for a moment before responding evenly, "You should have told us. We work together as a team. In doing so, we need to know as much about the people that are taking care of our lives as we can. Locking everything away in encrypted files won't help anyone."

"It wasn't my decision," Rossi said evenly. "It was Kelsi who didn't want the rest of you to know that she was a genius. She didn't think there was anyone like her out in the world, until I told her about you. That was one of the main reasons that compelled her to apply to the BAU. She knew that she would be around someone that could empathize with her." He raised his eyebrow knowingly. "But then, she actually _met_ you."

Reid knew that Rossi was referring to the way that he had been constantly trying to recoil from Kelsi's presence since she had arrived in the bullpen. "I didn't-I mean, I-I just…" he stuttered, and then finally gave up. "I liked her from the moment she walked in, and I was afraid of driving her away. Lyla was hard enough. I couldn't do that again."

Rossi studied him for a moment, remembering the Lyla story, before leaning back further in his chair. "So now that you've made a complete mess of things, hacked into government-secure files, and announced Miss Trujillo's status to a room that we aren't even sure is secure yet, what do you intend to do?"

This day was simply not going well.

Reid felt a flush creep over his cheeks. He _had_ messed up. Big time. And yet, he couldn't quite feel sorry about it. He wanted to know more about this girl, this young woman that had walked into the BAU and made herself part of the team. "I guess I'm going to ask why you adopted her," he answered.

Rossi sighed. "How did I know that was coming?" he asked, more to himself than to Reid. After another momentary pause, he explained, "Kelsi was rather messed up when I first met her. She'd been in and out of hospitals, mental facilities, and all sort of other testing sights in a matter of only a couple of years. She was a patient that I was called in to psychoanalyze. As soon as I sat down and had a conversation with her, I knew that there was absolutely nothing wrong, and I must admit that I got into quite an argument about her condition."

"What happened after that?" Reid asked carefully.

"We went through several court battles, and I won custody of her after a while. After that, I set her to private school for a year before I realized that she already knew everything. I sent her to Oxford shortly after that and tried not to feel like I was abandoning her by touring and doing book signings while she was at school. When she came back, she was an entirely different person."

"How so?"

"She was quieter, less chatty. She barely graduated, and I later found out that she had purposely tried to make her grades slump so that she didn't appear intelligent." Rossi sighed. "She's had it hard, and I knew that I needed to try and make things right, so I got her the job in Florida. I really hoped that it would help her relax and fit in, but nothing really changed. When the opening at the BAU arrived, I asked Hotch to take a look at her. Rest is history."

Reid sighed. There were still so many blanks to fill in, so many things he wanted to know, but all he could think about right then was asking, "So what do I do now?"

Rossi stood and poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip and then said, "You need to talk to her, work out your differences. If you two can't communicate, this investigation will never work."

"How do you know?" Reid asked reflexively.

For the first time since he had walked into the room, Reid saw Rossi truly smile. "Profiler," he said, pointing at himself. "Profiler, with a full cup of coffee."

Of course.

* * *

**A/N: I know that I've been away for an inexcusably long time, and for that, I am soooo sorry, but I have been super busy. I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, and please review, even though I don't deserve it! :D**


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